Christmas Cards: Syaoran and Sakura
by Inuismyhomeboi
Summary: The first in a series of oneshots about Christmas. This one is about one of my favorie couples, Syaoran and Sakura, in their highschool years. Told from Sakuras point of view. Theres Fluff, of course...i hope you like it!R&R please!


_**Hey all! HUZZAH!! Its time for Christmas fics! And thusly, I am totally excited for this. These stories are a smidge different than my usual stories, they're a series of one-shots, each one different; different characters, shows/games/movies, the works. But they're all Based on the same theme : Christmas Cards and the Christmas season. So I hope you enjoy and I hope your Holiday season is ten tons of fun, wrapped into a shiny package.**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own ANY of the characters I will use in this story, they do not belong to me in any way whatsoever. I dont own any references to movies or songs either... So...with that being said. On with the stories!!**

Chapter one: Snow

We were rivals. Always have been and always will be I'm sure. I get a solo in choir, he has to get one too. I get a lead role in Theater, he HAS to as well. Even in academics, he always has to try and one-up me. Try being the operative word, seeing as we're constantly competing with each other, meaning that somewhere along the line, one of us is going to be better at something. But the problem with this little arrangement-because there always is one, you see- is that Syaoran and I are best friends. We've been so since Kindergarten. And even worse is this; I've kind of been in love with him since fifth grade. But he doesn't know that, and I'm sure he never will, because I have no urge to tell him. I don't think the feeling will be mutual, and know that something like that would never work. So I idle my time by thinking of ways to torment him, rather than thinking of ways I can get him into a dark room. Preferably one with something cushy to flop onto. It was the Junior Classes turn to host the Christmas Party and the annual 'Secret Santa' game. I hated that game with a passion. Last year, I learned that my Santa was a boy by the name of Ken, who smelled like cabbage and had teeth the color of oatmeal. He also developed a strange obsession with me when I played Santa's helper at the mall and stalked me for a week the year prior. The rules of the game were this: The first day of the competition, everyone puts their name, written on a piece of paper, into a box. Then, once everyone has done so, you grab a name from the box and that's who you are Santa for. As Santa, you have to get them a gift, naturally, but you also have to leave clues for that person so they have the chance to figure out who you are. If they figure it out before the Christmas Party, they win a prize. That's normally a gift certificate to a restaurant or something equally useless. If you don't figure it out...you'll learn at the party, when everybody exchanges gifts. The game is divided by grade, so you don't have to worry about getting some silly freshman or a creepy, wasted senior, which was good. Its actually a big hit with everyone...but, as I said, I hate it with a passion. Even more so this year because I got Tomoyo Daidouji.

Tomoyo and I were best friends, attached at the hip, did everything together type of friends. Until ninth grade when she decided that image was an issue and had her brain eaten by The Clique; a.k.a, the single most popular girls in school. She was 'nice' for a little while. Apathetic and 'Don't worry, Sakura, we'll hang out. Maybe.' but then she met her boyfriend, got sucked into the life of parties and unmentionable nights spent in a closet, or near a toilet, and we lost contact. Three years later and I get the horrible luck of pulling her name. Were this _The Lottery_, I'd be more than happy to pull her name, because that would mean I got to throw rocks at her until she stopped moving. Which brings me to the fact that I have a terribly sick mind...which is never good during the holiday season.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas and everything about it. Even the tacky commercialism of it is refreshing. But I hate school functions. And Tomoyo. But there's nothing I can do about that. Names are non-refundable.  
I shoved the piece of paper inside my back pocket and shuffled off towards the auditorium. The Student Council was meeting there to discuss decorating to gym for the Christmas party. I silently thanked whoever's up there that I had my Mp3 player on hand.

* * *

I figured that I'd make an attempt to be civil and bought Tomoyo a plushie. It was the only thing I could have possibly afforded except for the gift I really wanted to buy her; a book on what to tell your parents when you come home drunk, stoned, or pregnant. Maybe I'll go back for it later. But for now, this silly stuffed walrus will suffice. I remember that she loves them, and Figured that, in the spirit of Christmas, I'd show a smidge of courtesy.

The clue on my desk this morning was a little silver box. Inside said box was a small piece of parchment(yes, parchment...) that had the word "Snow" and an arrow pointing down on it. The only thing I could possibly think of was snowfall. Or a Blizzard. I hated being confused...so I gave up. For now at least...I slid the paper into my bag and slid into my seat, creating a resounding thud as my head whacked against the desktop. I sat there, motionless for a good five minutes before a familiar hand grabbed my cropped hair and gave a good tug.

"Syaoran...you do that again and I'm blowing your head clean off..." I mumbled to the plastic table. He laughed. I hate it when he laughed...it made my stomach feel weird. Why couldn't he be one of those 'I hate my life, somebody kill me now' kind of people?? Maybe then I wouldn't like him as much as I do.

"Come ooonnnn Sakura! Where's your Christmas Spirit?? You know 'Tis' the season to be JOLLY' and all that jazz?" he said, sliding into the desk in front of me and bending down, so he could stare up at me.

"In a box...under my bed. Where it will pleasantly fester until break. I can see you let yours loose a little early." I sighed, raising my head and staring at his back, then his cringing face as he whacked the back of his head on my desk coming up. I laughed.

"He was lonely...and the box was dark and scary. The poor thing...HOW CAN YOU BE SO CRUEL!!" he cried, falsely of course, but I humored him.

"Its just what I do. Call me Scrooge." I shrugged, leaning my head on my hand. He sighed and pulled out a blue envelope.  
"You get your clue yet?? I cant make heads or tales of mine. Take a look." he said, shoving it in front of me. I pulled the envelope closer and opened it . Inside were four paperclips, a piece of bright green string about the size of my arm, and a note that said "smile" in fancy calligraphy. I shifted the pieces around before my brain began to melt and I had to pull something childish. Running the string through the four paperclips, I spaced them out evenly and hung it in front of my mouth, making it look like a big, stupid grin.

"Maybe your Stalker Santa's a clown..." I gestured, handing the makeshift mouthpiece back to him.  
"Ew, gross... I hate clowns." Syaoran groaned in sincere disgust. He really did hate them. When we were eight, my father took us to a circus for a birthday present and a rather drunken clown decided that Syaorans shoes would be the perfect place to hurl everything he ate in the last 24 hours. Funny how one moment can change how you look at something forever. In any case, I digress.

"So what's your clue??" Syaoran asked, pocketing his and turning back to me. I shrugged and pulled it out.

"Just this. It baffles me." I said, sliding it over to him and sighing. He laughed. And laughed...then shoved it back to me and walked off as the bell rang. This is why I HATE men...sometimes.

* * *

There were no clues Tuesday or Wednesday. But when I opened my locker Thursday morning, I was attacked by a giant pink balloon with a silver metallic smiley face on it. Tied to the string was a note, again, written on parchment.

'Okay, so the last clue didn't make so much sense...but try this one. Remember when you were ten and wandered off to that forest and got so scared, only to find that you were about ten minutes from your house?? You know that clearing?? There will be something there for you after the dance...but only if you don't figure this out in time. Here's your clue: _CHERRY BOMBS' _Okay. That, at least, narrowed it down by A LOT. Down to about five. There were very few people who knew about Cherry Bombs...and the entire junior class knew about my forest escapades...it was a topic of discussion last year in creative writing. But the Cherry Bombs. Those were something. When I was eleven, I made the mistake of combining Red Kool-aid and Cherry Cough Syrup with a "Create your own Firecracker" kit I got for my birthday. I was a very destructive child, and naturally had to try it out. So my friends and I, that is, Syaoran, Tomoyo, Connor, Takashi, and Risa, made these 'firecrackers' if you will, and called them Cherry Bombs, after my name. It turned out that we weren't far enough away and when that sucker blew, we were hot pink colored for a good week and a half. Fifth grade was not a pleasant year...

I spent the rest of the day reminiscing. Which was bad when I nearly flunked an Algebra test and spilled red paint all over my shoes. I realized that day that everyone was right in never letting me work on the sets in Theater class. I figured the best thing to do after that was to head straight home and sleep. Which I did...until about eight o clock that night, when my cell phone blaring in my ear woke me up.

"Hullo" I sighed into the receiver, praying that it was nothing important.

"Sakura, wake your ass up! Did you not realize that its SNOWING. Whats WRONG with you!!?" It was Risa. Her shrill voice rang in my ear painfully and I sighed, quite angry at myself for messing up my own tradition. Rolling out of bed and thudding gracefully on the floor, face in carpet, I pulled myself up and looked out the window. Something was definitely wrong...I went to bed and there was NO snow on the ground, not even a sign that there may be later. I wake up a few hours later, and theres a good two feet. I squealed and rushed over to my closet.

"So you'll be outside then??? SOON??" Risa bellowed. I growled in response and barked a yes and a flung my phone towards my bed and pulled on my fuzzy, neon orange boots that I ADORED. Stuffing my phone in my sweater pocket, I ran downstairs and grabbed my coat, hat and gloves off its peg and rushed outside. I had aimed to make the first hit of the season...but I was blindsided by a slush ball as soon as I closed the door behind me. The next few hours were an automatic onslaught of blindly flinging snowballs wherever they may fall and an uncompromised win by my team...whoever they were. I just know that the time I was done, Syaoran was lying in a snow bank, clutching his stomach and groaning something about if he gets hit with one more snowball, he's going to puke. That's a success in my book.

It was Friday morning. The Dance was tonight and it was required that those who put it together have to go. Unfortunately for me. I had hoped to rub my victory in Syaorans slightly bruised face...but he wasn't there. As a matter of fact...he acted really weird when the fight ended and I hadn't heard from him since. He wasn't in homeroom or History fifth period. But when 6th rolled around and I went to my locker, a greeting card fell out. It was a light blue color and covered in snowflakes. The inside was blank greeting card wise, but my stalker Santa wrote a lot;  
_"Sakura.  
I think I may be done trying to fool you. Its obvious no one is going to win in this situation. In any case, I'm bound to make you figure out who I am... so lets try this one;  
Remember when we were...ten, was it? And you were bent on creating the best snow fort EVER? So you and me and Risa and Connor shoveled every driveway on the street into the road and built that awesome castle that had two stories and a freaking turret?? Or how about when we took that week off of school with the excuse that our twin Siamese parrots had just died and we were in mourning...But here's the one I think will set it off the most. In sixth grade...we were all warped. You were Blossom, Connor was Buttercup, and I was Bubbles. You figure it out? -SS"_ If it was a wonder to anyone passing by as to why the hell I was sitting on the floor against my locker laughing my head off...they really needn't know. However, I had figured out what the first clue meant. When we were little, Syaoran and I never called it a snow day. We called it a snow down because we felt it was more appropriate for whatever reason...but I had figured out who it was. And that was all I needed.

* * *

I detest dresses. They're drafty and generally paired with horrendous shoes that murder your feet. Give me a pair of bondage pants and some converse any day and I'll be one happy camper. But for this one night I have decked myself out in three inch spikes and a blue dress that looks like something out of the 80's. It had no sleeves and went down to about my knees. However...I decided that I wasn't going to be formal about this and these spikes are giving my feet hell. So, in lieu of the pain, I swapped the spikes for my favorite pair of Goth boots; ten million buckles, laces and four inch platforms. I LOVE them. And to further the funky look, I shoved on some fingerless gloves and a choker that looked like a dog collar. I let my hair fall where it may and shrugged on my coat on my way out the door.

The dance was nothing short of predictable. Risque dancing, smuggled vodka in the apparatus of water bottles, geeks with their adored pocket protectors at the punch table, hoping to get lucky after they spike it...same old, same old. I shuffled over to the nearest wall that wasn't covered in testosterone drenched couples and slid into a chair, looking around for someone potentially interesting to talk to. Eventually, Conner and Risa rolled in, enabling me to actually move and talk. It was a joyous occasion.

"Anyone seen Syaoran? He hasn't been here all day..." the two looked at each other like they knew something and at once said "Nope, haven't seen him. Weird that he wouldn't show up...oh well. Come I see food." Okay, that last bit was Risa...but something seemed suspicious. The next few hours of the dance were a blur. I recall two fist-fights over Mei and four counts of insane drunken ramblings...and a severe bout of giggling from Risa each time it got closer to midnight. And then it was here. The DJ came on and told everyone to get the hell out and be drunk somewhere else, literally, those were his exact words. Anywho, Risa broke out into a fit of giggle and little hiccups, so Connor took her home, telling me 'I'd best be getting where I need to be'. They knew something I didn't. That bothered me.

On my trek home, it started to snow...and if it weren't for the fact that they were blood red, I never would have seen the out of place trail of Red Hots going into the clearing across the street. I followed them, being the curious moron that I tend to be, and hiked deeper into the forest on the other side of my street. As I got to the next clearing, every single branch on every tree was decked with a red rose tied to black string. Small prisms hung other places, creating the coolest effect I have ever seen...needless to say, it stopped my breath. Then my heart when I saw who was standing in the center of the clearing, holding a small box wrapped in ice blue paper. He smiled, like he always does, that stupid smile that I hate myself for loving so much. Then he laughed.  
"I should have known that you would do something to make that your own look." He sighed, walking over to me and pressing the box into my gloved hand.  
"But it works for you." he whispered as he backed off. My eyes were clouding over with tears at this point, and I couldn't stop them. But I held them back enough so I could see. Inside the box was a simple black picture frame. There was a note with my name on it sitting on top of the glass and as I picked it up, I saw that it was a picture of Syaoran shoving cake in my face and kissing my cheek at my tenth birthday party. I laughed. Syaoran smiled. Opening the note, his sloppy handwriting filled the page, along with silly little doodles that he always plastered notes with. There were little kids throwing snowballs at each other and a snowman wearing a Rastafarian hat and sunglasses. There was a tree with weird ornaments on it and a ying-yang in shape of a heart.

_"Sakura, I love this picture. I think it's the only time I ever dared to show the slightest inkling of how I felt...feel. Normally, girls do sappy stuff like this, but I know you, and I know me(I should hope I do, after all!) and I don't want to wait anymore. I'm tired of it. So here's what I have to say, and I'm writing it because I don't think I could say them any other way without knowing how you felt. Ever since you moved next door to me when we were four, I have loved everything about you. When I was younger, I thought it was a silly crush and I never brought it up cause girls were supposed to have cooties. Then, time passed, and I was consoled in the excuse that it was puppy love...but that dumb beast grew into a dog and that feeling never left. My stomach tied in knots and my throat closed every time I saw you and it didn't stop until I accepted the fact that I was in love with you. So that's it. I don't care what you think or how you feel. And to quote your favorite movie; "This wasted heart of mine will love you until you look like this..."" _Then there was a creepy picture of some mummy. And I laughed again. And some more. Then I started crying. I never cried so much in my life...except for once when we thought Syaoran was moving. It was then that I heard the footsteps and felt Syaoran wrap his arms around me. He was warm and it was all I could do to stop myself from just melting into it. All I could muster up was a weak excuse for a whispered confession. But that was all he needed to know that it was alright for him to take my face in his hands and kiss me.

_Fin _

* * *

**_Okay! So what did you think?? Good? Bad?? Stupid?? To Wordy??!! Tell me what you think! I plan to do a lot of these things. Just so you know. They're all going to be One Shots. There may be a couple stories with the same characters, but im aiming for diversity here. So we'll see. Till then, drop a message and tell me what you think. I'm hoping to get all of them up before Christmas. _**

**_Ja!  
Kirra_**


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